Library Visit In Montclair, NJ

Hey All -

Just putting the word out there... I'll be in Montclair, NJ on Tuesday April 20, at the public library.

http://www.montclairlibrary.org/content1862

I'll be reading from The Stone Child and discussing the book from conception to publication--answering questions and such. I'll also be giving a preview of my next book, The Nightmarys, which comes out this August.

Spread the word, if you will... It would be great to see lots of faces from my one of my home states!

Cheers,
Dan

Best Response Ever

I should preface this story by mentioning that I let my father borrow one of the advanced copies of The Nightmarys last weekend. Halfway through the week, he called me up to tell me how much he was loving it... which I thought was great. And then... tonight...

As I was making dinner I got a phone call. The caller ID told me it was my dad. I picked up and said hello.

This is what I heard: "You've got to be freaking kidding me!" Nothing else... No hi, howareya... just, "You've got to be freaking kidding me!"

I was like, "What did I do?"

"I'm totally freaking out right now..."

"Why?"

"Your book! I just got off the train and I'm walking home and there's this old man in front of me and he turned around and stared at me and then this streetlight just went out as I walked under it, and... it's the curse, isn't it?"

At this point, I had to laugh. "You're kidding, right?"

"No! There were so many scary scenes right after the next, and then, just when I thought it was over, it got scarier! I can barely breathe. And now I have to go home to an empty, haunted house."

Eek. I certainly didn't mean to do that to him! I apologized profusely.

He told me people are going to sue me for putting them through that...

Now, I really hope no one sues me when they read The Nightmarys, but I suppose if you like scary stories, you might like this one. At least, my dad thinks so!

Just getting excited for everyone else to read it starting in August! It still seems so far away...

Cheers,
Dan

Advanced Copies!

So excited! I got home last night to find a package from my editor. I was expecting page proofs (loose pages with all the mark-ups from copy-editing), and to my surprise, there was a little bonus.

You've probably already guessed what that was (see, I included a hint in the title of this post... also, there's that big picture right there). They sent me a couple advanced copies. Let me tell you, it's so much fun after all the work to finally see your words in actual bound-book form.

The cover illustration is still so creepy. The interior design echoes The Stone Child, but adds something new. I can't wait to share this one with everyone!

Cheers,
Dan

And here they are... The Girls.

Nightmarys Cover Art

Came home through the blizzard tonight to find a package from Random House waiting for me. My editor and designer sent me the final cover proof for my new book, The Nightmarys, which comes out this August. It's the first time I've gotten to see the back of the book, read the cover copy, and see my author photo (by my friend Nic).

Wow, is the image scary! It's the kind of scary that makes you want to hold it at a distance... or maybe put it in the freezer. I'm sort of shocked that this thing actually came out of my brain...

Can't wait until August!

The Ghost Story Answers

In October, I held a contest here at enigmaticmanuscript, posting ghost stories every few days, I asked you to guess which were true and which were not. Whoever guessed the most correctly won a free signed copy of my book. (It's on its way, Wooden Spoon!)

I also promised that eventually I would post the answers here. So if you haven't read any of them yet and still want to be surprised, you may want to stop reading here...

Spoilers ahead!

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And the list goes like this:

1. The Eye at the Door: True

2. Hell Shower: True!

3. The Burns Street Disturbance: True

4. The Lady in Red: True!

5. The Hounds of Blairsden: (Though it was based on a very real place, the story itself is) False

6. The Bullet Hole: True

7. Boo!: True!

8. Mrs. Lee: True

9. Another Burns Street Disturbance: True (my dad's house is totally haunted!)

10. The Drowned Dog: False (though unfortunately I did once come across a drowned dog on a beach... so sad!)

11. The Yowl: Totally true!

12. The Devil's Tree: True

13. The Driveway: The murder story is true... The ghost story is fake... so the answer is ... duh... False.

14. Yet Another Burns Street Disturbance: True

15. The Ouija Board: True

16. After the Spirit Board: True

17. The Kelsens: .... .... .... and the final answer is... False! (obviously. though wouldn't it be cool if it were true? I think so.)

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Anyway, thanks to everyone who played. If you haven't read the stories, it's not too late. Share 'em with your friends, classes, family. This could be a fun party game... IMHO.

Cheers, during a very unscary December,

Dan

Gone for Awhile, Back Again

Haven't posted lately. I've been busy with the new/ old job, back at the cancer hospital. And no, I'm not kidding... I work at a cancer hospital, something I didn't feel the need to put in my author bio. I actually really enjoy it.

I'm finally excited about an old project that sucked me back in recently. I started writing this story about four years ago, got 180 pages into it, then quit. Last January, I began again, a new version, revised, but I still wasn't able to commit to it. In my head, it just seemed too big, too much. And after revising The Stone Child last year, finishing the first draft of The Nightmarys, and writing an entire other manuscript between October and December, I guess I just needed a break.

So I'm happy to say, I'm finally back at it. A great big wallop of a story that I'm excited to write. It only took about a year to recover... and it'll probably take me longer than that to complete a first draft... but if there's one thing that 2009 has taught me, it's that I've got plenty of time to grow, to keep going. I can't be in a rush, because the universe is certainly not in a rush for me. It's a difficult lesson to accept when you feel like you're on the cusp of big things.

These are the moments to remember the little things. Those are what give us patience...

Happy December, everyone.

Dan